Taste of Soul Scholarship Winner Ethelbert Anum was the Student Athlete of the Week in the April 5th issue of the L.A. Sentinel (Amanda Scurlock/L.A. Sentinel)

The Taste of Soul Scholarship awarded several adolescents in our community this year. One of the recipients is former Student Athlete of the Week, Ethelbert Anum. The King/Drew alumni was featured in the April 5th edition of the newspaper and helped the boys basketball team win a CIF division II championship last season.

Since then, Anum enrolled into the University of California, Berkeley and is on track to major in mechanical engineering. A main reason why Anum chose UC Berkeley was because of the strong community among the Black students.

“UC Berkeley was one of the biggest fits for me personally just because of how close of a Black family I have here,” Anum said. “I’d have a safe place I could go to.”

Anum not only got good grades, but he was involved in several organizations at is school and at his church.

“I was a part of the Omega tutoring club,” Anum said. “We would tutor elementary school students after school with their math and english work.”

At King/Drew, Anum worked on projects that would help bring the school together. He worked with a student organization called “Self SZN,” where he took part in video skits to promote inclusivity at the school. His coaches were willing to allow him time to participate in his various activities.

“The coaches on the basketball team, they were really understanding,” Anum said. “They would let me go to tutoring, tutor for an hour and then come back for study hall for the last hour.”

Anum heard of the scholarship through his school college counsellor. The scholarship and word of mouth from friends gave him a better understanding of the family festival.

“One of my friends, she occasionally goes and she tells me how much of a welcoming event it is,” he said. “It’s an event that I’ve seen that’s really important because it brings people together, that’s something we need right now.”

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